PRELIMINARY PHYTOCHEMICAL, ANTIOXIDANT AND CYTOTOXICITY STUDY OF THE ETHANOLIC EXTRACTS OF PHYLLANTHUS ACIDUS L. ROOT BARK

Traditional medicine plays a very important role in Bangladesh, particularly at the primary health care level. The modern types of traditional medicine, namely, the Ayurvedic and Unani medicines are now officially recognized in Bangladesh .The objective of the present study was to evaluate antioxidant potential and cytotoxicity of ethanolic extract of root bark of Phyllanthus acidus L. The phytochemical screening demonstrated the presence of carbohydrates, saponins, and tannins. Antioxidant activity was evaluated by using 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazil (DPPH) free radical assay. In DPPH assay, free radical scavenging activity of the extracts was evaluated comparing with ascorbic acid at the wavelength of 517 nm and the IC₅₀ value of Phyllanthus acidus extracts was found to be 26 µg/ml, whereas ascorbic acid showed the value of 17.49 µg/ml. In case of brine shrimp cytotoxicity assay, LC₅₀ value was obtainedto be 35.48 μg/ml. This is the first research report regarding in vitro evaluation of DPPH scavenging activity of ethanolic extracts of the root barks of Phyllanthus acidus   L. The present study might be extended for the formulation and evaluation of different antioxidant herbal dosage forms.